Playing Partner - Lloyd
I know in yesterday's blog that I said I was playing Eisenhower Blue today, but I was lucky. I woke at around 5:30am (Yes kids, when you get to this age - you just wake up at dawn!). Went online to see if any RED tee times were available (We had a 8:12 on Blue).
Lo and behold, there was a foursome available at 8:05. I grabbed two slots under my wife's id.
After Lloyd and I checked in (and I cancelled my Blue tee times), we went to the range - where I hit no more than 15 balls. Just loosening up.
The weather was great again. Although there were some initial clouds that looked like rain, it had cleared up by tee time and it was WONDERFUL!!!
The first hole was an uneventful par. My only problem was hitting my pitching wedge too far, to the back of the green, and the pin was in the front.
The second hole played as the Par 3, which I 3 putted for a 4. It's a two level green, and the pin was on the HIGH side. Of course, my shot landed on the LOW side. Thus - 4 putts.
I made a mess of the 3rd for a double bogey, and came to the 4th hole.
The tee was back, so you'd need a really solid drive to get to the dogleg and have a view to the green.
My drive was awesome, but the draw pulled into the last tree on the left.
As we approached the tree, somehow my ball was on the FAR side of the tree!! WTF?
I had to chip out laterally from the green, and wound up with a double bogey.
At this point, I finally "felt" my swing. Made some nice shots, especially my 2nd shot on the 9th.
The 9th hole is a roughly 320 yard straight par 4. I stuck my wedge to 4 feet above the hole.
Of course, my birdie attempt drifted right and I settled for a par.
A respectable 43 on the front.
The 10th hole is a monster, where you need 2 really solid shots. My drive was nice, but my 4 wood pulled a bit, and I settled for a bogey.
The 11th hole is a 350 yard par 4, with the drive needing to fit between two trees. I faded my drive and that left me 120 yards to the middle of the green.
Once again, I stuck my wedge 4 feet above the hole.
And, once again I missed that freak'n birdie putt!!!
Argh!!!
The round progressed nicely until the 16th. The Par 3, playing 157 yards (by my Garmin). It was into a stiff wind, so I chose my 5 hybrid - and pulled the shot into the left green-side bunker.
As I looked over my shot, I saw that the green flowed away from me and down towards the hole. I knew all I needed to do was land the sand shot just outside the bunker, and it would roll down towards the hole and give me a short put for par.
My bunker shot was perfect, and my ball slowly made it's way down to the pin.
AND WENT IN!!!
YES!! A Sandy/Birdie!!!! Nothing makes you feel better than holing out from a bunker.
I finished the round with 2 bogeys, and a 42 back - 85 overall.
As opposed to Saturday, I didn't feel I left any strokes on the course. I played nice and level, and kept my head in the game.
I mean - could I have (or SHOULD I have) rolled those two birdie putts in? Yes.
But, I can't be upset.as I had 31 putts.
I finally feel that my game is coming together. Drives, woods, irons, chips, etc.
Did I fuck up some shots? Sure - but I'm not so hard on myself that I don't allow myself a mistake here and there. (If I was that good, my handicap would be single digits). My biggest mistake was leaving my cigar lighter in my pushcart (we drove today) so I couldn't light up my "semi legal" cigar!!
As for Lloyd - he played a nice round, and never got out of his game - until the last 4 holes. He was exhausted. Whereas I started my round off with a bagel and coffee, a mid-round banana, and then had a 24 ounce water (with FRS added) - Lloyd didn't have anything. He got a soda and some pretzels at the turn, but (in my opinion), that's not nearly enough to fuel the engine for a 4 1/2 hour round. I told him that he AT LEAST needs to drink more water during his round.
I have a lot of golf coming up in the next 3-4 weeks. I'm playing this Friday at Trump's Ferry Point. I hear it's supposed to be very windy.
Then Saturday in my regular game.
I have 2 outings the the coming weeks, too.
Life is good.
So, until next week
Keep it in the Short Hairs
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